In the field Published on 2020 / 08 / 05

Beirut emergency

We need your help

Mariela, open-heart surgery in Madagascar

Two terrible explosions. As you know, the port and part of Beirut were blown up… Dead, thousands injured. Victims of crush syndrome, including many children and the maimed. Hospitals are unable to cope with the influx of suffering. Saint-Georges Hospital, the oldest hospital in Lebanon, has been virtually destroyed. Other hospitals, already saturated, can do nothing.

Added to this tragedy are Covid-19, a catastrophic economic situation and a million Syrian refugees who need constant help…

We have a local branch of La Chaîne de l’Espoir. I’ve just spoken to Dr Jebara, a heart surgeon at Hôtel-Dieu, a hospital in Beirut’s eastern district, and to Dr Georges, an orthopedic surgeon. They urgently need anaesthetics and medicines. They also lack consumables such as sutures, compresses, dressings and surgical drapes. Even electricity is in short supply, and for lack of funds, fuel oil is impossible to obtain, making any operation extremely risky.

But above all, they need testing. Tests to identify COVID-19 sufferers and prevent mass contamination of the population… Imagine, more than 300,000 homeless people overnight during a pandemic! We’ve been working with our Lebanese doctor friends for years. Many of them were trained in France. It’s our obligation to support our family at heart… Let’s help them save the wounded who are desperately seeking help.

One donation and we save one more casualty.

Thank you.

20/08 – A dramatic situation

Dr. Éric Cheysson has just returned from Beirut, where he spent several days with a small team of experts.

He gives a dramatic account of the situation:

“On site, we gave priority to visiting the hospitals, accompanied by our Lebanese friends and colleagues.

Hôpital Saint Georges is completely destroyed: walls cracked, ceilings unstable, windows blown out… Rehabilitating the neonatal care unit is now the Medical Director’s priority. And he’s asked us for help.

We also went to the Hôtel Dieu Hospital. The medical teams welcomed us with incredible human warmth, thanking us for the donations of medical equipment and consumables they had received, thanks to you.

Then I met Sister Lamia of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity, Director of Care at Hôpital Sacré-Coeur. I was particularly touched by his commitment and his words. It is devastated by the misery of the families.

Thousands of them bear the after-effects of the explosions, in an already catastrophic economic context. This accumulation of tragedies has led Sister Lamia to ask us for help in caring for these wounded people, most of whom are children and often homeless.

In the face of this emergency, we must remain mobilized.”

Let’s work together to restore hope to entire families.

10/08 – First shipments of equipment and consumables

Thanks to the generosity of numerous donors, La Chaîne de l’Espoir has been able to prepare the first shipments of equipment and consumables to treat the injured following the double explosion in Beirut.

Our local office is ready to receive anaesthetics, medicines and consumables to help the injured.

Our Lebanese doctor friends still need COVID-19 tests to identify the sick and avoid massive contamination, and above all fuel oil to be able to operate despite the power cuts.